lsd-rs/lsd · error

failed to retrieve modified date

Error message

failed to retrieve modified date

What it means

Date::from(&Metadata) calls Metadata::modified() and .expect()s it to succeed. On platforms/filesystems where the modification time is unavailable (std returns io::Error), this panic aborts eza instead of rendering the date column. The library assumes mtime always exists, which is not guaranteed on exotic filesystems.

Source

Thrown at src/meta/date.rs:29

pub enum Date {
    Date(DateTime<Local>),
    Invalid,
}

// Note that this is split from the From for Metadata so we can test this one (as we can't mock Metadata)
impl From<SystemTime> for Date {
    fn from(systime: SystemTime) -> Self {
        // FIXME: This should really involve a result, but there's upstream issues in chrono. See https://github.com/chronotope/chrono/issues/110
        let res = panic::catch_unwind(|| systime.into());

        res.map_or(Date::Invalid, Date::Date)
    }
}

impl From<&Metadata> for Date {
    fn from(meta: &Metadata) -> Self {
        meta.modified()
            .expect("failed to retrieve modified date")
            .into()
    }
}

impl Date {
    pub fn render(&self, colors: &Colors, flags: &Flags) -> ColoredString {
        let date_string = self.date_string(flags);
        let elem = match self {
            Self::Date(modified) => Elem::Date(modified.timestamp()),
            Self::Invalid => Elem::InvalidDate,
        };

        colors.colorize(date_string, &elem)
    }
    fn date_string(&self, flags: &Flags) -> String {
        let locale = current_locale();

        if let Date::Date(val) = self {

View on GitHub (pinned to 4b6c14a110)

Solutions

1. Identify the file triggering it and check its filesystem (stat <file>); copy/move the file to a filesystem that supports mtime.
2. If you build eza, replace the expect with graceful degradation: use meta.modified().ok().map(Into::into).unwrap_or_default() and render a placeholder.
3. Update/upgrade the FUSE or network filesystem driver so it reports timestamps.
4. Work around by excluding the offending mount from the listing (e.g. list a different directory, adjust ignore globs).

Example fix

// before
meta.modified().expect("failed to retrieve modified date").into()
// after
match meta.modified() {
    Ok(mtime) => mtime.into(),
    Err(_) => SystemTime::UNIX_EPOCH.into(), // or skip the date column
}

match std::fs::metadata(path) {
    Ok(meta) => match meta.modified() {
        Ok(_) => { /* safe to list */ },
        Err(e) => eprintln!("no mtime for {}: {}", path.display(), e),
    },
    Err(e) => eprintln!("stat failed: {}", e),
}

fn has_mtime(meta: &std::fs::Metadata) -> bool {
    meta.modified().is_ok()
}

let date = std::panic::catch_unwind(|| Date::from(&meta))
    .unwrap_or_else(|_| Date::from(std::time::SystemTime::UNIX_EPOCH));
// or, if patching the library: meta.modified().ok().map(Into::into).unwrap_or_default()

When it happens

Trigger: Listing files whose filesystem cannot supply a modified time — Metadata::modified() returns Err — while eza renders metadata (from() invoked during date column rendering).

Common situations: Files on network filesystems (NFS/SMB), FUSE mounts, some procfs/sysfs virtual files, or Windows FAT volumes with missing timestamps; files created/modified by the OS in ways that leave mtime unset.

Related errors

• invalid file name
• Failed to read both config file and default config
• Provided file path is invalid

AI-assisted analysis of lsd-rs/lsd@4b6c14a110 (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3d65ebe71d800ff7. Report an issue: GitHub.